Equality between women and men in the choice of a child's surname

14 May 1993

Doc. 6839

MOTION FOR A RECOMMENDATION

on equality between women and men

in the choice of a child's surname

presented by Mr MASSON and others

1. One of the major principles accepted by everyone is that of strict equality between women and men in societal life.

2. With regard to the choice of a child's surname, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has already adopted a resolution (No. 78 (37)) recommending that member states allow «both spouses equal rights as to the family name to be given to the children of their marriage».

3. Resolution No. 2 on the acquisition of surname adopted by the Ministers participating in the 13^th Conference of European Ministers of Justice in Athens from 25 to 27 May 1982 proposes to examine the problems relating to the acquisition of a surname and to avoid any form of discrimination in this area.

4. Yet in many countries, discrimination between women and men still exists with regard to passing on a surname to children; there are also different rules applied depending on whether the child is born of married parents or unmarried parents.

5. For this reason, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers take every initiative it deems necessary to ensure strict equality between the father and mother with regard to passing on a surname and to eradicate any discrimination in the rules applied to natural children and legitimate children.

Signed: Masson, Graenitz, Err, Durrieu, Regenwetter, Rodrigues, Brito, Halonen, Robert, Masseret, Seeuws